Schedule Change Impact: School Start Times Could Be Altered

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2013 at 11:36 PM

A proposal would push high school start times to between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m.

By MERISSA GREENTHE LEDGER

BARTOW | Polk County School District officials can't promise that the start time at high schools will stay the same if class schedules change.The School District has held three community meetings recently to address a series of cuts being made to make it possible for teachers to get pay increases.Chief among them are changes in class scheduling that include middle schools dropping from eight periods to seven and high schools changing from seven periods to six.Interim Superintendent of Schools John Stewart said Tuesday that he had misspoken at the final meeting when asked whether starting times would also change.The start of the school day could change if there is to be a common lesson planning time for teachers, he told board members at Tuesday's work session. "I didn't misspeak intentionally at that meeting," Stewart said about the meeting held at Ridge Community High School in Davenport. "The last thing I want is misinformation given."Classes at high schools now begin at 7 a.m. or shortly after.David Lewis, the district's associate superintendent of learning, said a proposal for reducing the number of class periods would push the start time at high schools to between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m., depending on a school's bus drop-off times.The length of the school day will be the same. High schools with unique programs, such as International Baccalaureate in Bartow and Haines City and Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Lakeland, will continue to have seven periods, Lewis said. Because Lakeland High School's scheduling is intertwined with Harrison, Lakeland High also will remain on a seven-period day.Students at other schools with unique programs will have the flexibility to take an online course, district officials said.The proposal also calls for tutoring to be built in during the school day, possibly during the lunch period. District officials are leaving it up to individual school administrators to carry out the proposal, following certain stipulations, Lewis said.The district could save an estimated $7.2 million, some of the money needed for an $18 million budget shortfall to continue teachers' pay raises in the 2013-14 school year.The schedule changes are the biggest cost saving to make up the shortfall, district officials said.A special work session is planned after spring break, which begins next week. The board is expected to take action on the proposal in April.Start time is a hot-button issue at Harrison, board member Kay Fields said."We did tell them we wouldn't be changing (the start time)," she said. "Those of us that were at the Harrison meeting heard loudly and clearly that was an issue for a lot of the parents. Some of the comments were about siblings having to watch younger kids and having a job so all of those pieces are important, too."Stewart said the district's focus is saving dollars."We are trying to save you as many dollars as we can simply because we have to achieve that $15 million to $18 million figure," Stewart said. "The way you do that is to get common planning time and go to the six-period day. If that means you go to a 3 o'clock dismissal time, that is more important than anything in the decision-making process."Board member Debra Wright said she has received calls about "school bus hubs" the district is trying to create. This involves the creation of pick-up locations near subdivisions, rather than the bus traveling each street."There are a whole lot of things that are not clear," Wright said. "When we went to the public and certain things were presented, they heard what they heard."Wright also said district officials have not clarified how they plan to use the Citrus Connection to assist with transportation challenges."One of our goals should be that as quickly as possible we need to get information to parents about our intentions and make sure that those are our intentions," Wright said.Board member Tim Harris said he doesn't understand why some think that the proposed class scheduling will negatively affect athletics. At each of the community meetings, district officials fielded questions about students getting home late from practice or not having enough time for games to take place.Stewart said the proposal won't affect athletics. There will still be sports offered, and teams will practice later in the day.

[ Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 863-802-7547. ]